In complex systems or networks, there may be a large number of factors with complicated interrelationships that affect the output of the system or network. For example, in a large scale communication network, factors such as channel quality, bandwidth, latency, and error rate among others may affect network performance. Thus, when anomalous system or network behavior is detected (e.g. unusually high or low network performance), it may be difficult to pinpoint the particular factor or factors that are the root cause of such anomalous behavior.
In addition, many networks and systems require the ability to detect and analyze anomalous behavior in situations where the inner workings of the systems are unknown. This adds another layer of complexity to the task of determining the causes of anomalous system behavior.